Another Ranger's Apprentice
by krisforever29
Summary: Much to everybody's shock, there's a new Ranger hero in the Kingdom. His feats were bigger than Will's; saving two fiefs and the King and the royal family. But there's something more, is he really like Will? No, something's different.


**Another Ranger's Apprentice**

**Chapter One**

The news of a new ranger spread across the kingdom at the speed of light, just as fast as the news of Will's heroic acts had; if not faster. The ranger was too, a hero; his master had died three months in to his apprenticeship, leaving him to battle an army of Scandinavians entering their fief. In the end, the new apprentice had saved two fiefs, his own and a neighboring one. Much to the Kingdom's surprise, He had also saved the King's family... and the King himself.

Passing through town, Will overheard two men, talking of the ranger with awe clear in their voices. Will felt a pang of jealousy for the new ranger, he himself was once that boy; the once that people talked about, the hero. Now it was this new kid; of course Will was still regarded as a brave hero. But more a hero that was now retired from the job as was continuing his life as a normal ranger. If rangers could be normal…

Will shook his head and patted Tug, his ever more loyal horse. Tug nodded as if he understood what Will was feeling and continued out of the castle town gates onward to the cottage beside the forest, home.

Will looped Tug's reins around his neck as tucked the end under bridle. Then he unlatched his bit so that he had the freedom of grazing before they had to leave again. Will sighed and let himself in the small cottage.

After settling in to a chair, Will heard heavy thudding footsteps on the wooden deck outside, his brain quickly processed the sound. _It's Horace, too heavy to be Halt or Gilian._ Horace briskly opened the wooden door and stopped to take a deep breath.

"The apprentice is here! He's at the Training grounds in the corner sticking trees with arrows. Bloody good at it to, rolling and jumping and diving like a bloody ninja. But I didn't get a chance to see his face, nobody did; his cloak was on the whole time. Anyhow, Sir Rodney sent for you. Halt and Gilian were already there."

With that, Will dashed to his room, snapped on his cloak and strapped on his weapons. It added to the Ranger look he carried now, he also might get a chance to meet and maybe practice with the ranger apprentice.

Together, they walked outside and mounted their horses, Horace on his battle stead, Will on Tug. They galloped to the castle village and slowed to a trot at the gate.

People still acknowledged Will when he passed. Children pointed and mumbled 'Ranger Will' when he trotted by with big adoring eyes while their parents grabbed their finger and scolded for pointing, before meeting his eyes and bowing their heads.

Horace chuckled at the sight of it all, "Don't you ever get tired of that? It must be annoying."

"It sure is."

By that time they finished talking; they were at the courtyard of the training campus, Horace dismounted and returned his horse to the stables on the right. He came back and lightly gripped Tug's reins, leading him to the training field after Will motioned for Tug to obey.

At the edge of the fence, Horace's friends approached and nodded politely at Will, slapping hands with Horace. Will swiftly dismounted Tug and tucked his reins in to the saddle. Together, they walked along the fence watching the warriors train, some with swords, and others with sticks.

"Ranger Will! Or actually apprentice Ranger Will. But I suppose Will will do." Will and Tug turned to face Sir Rodney.

"Halt and Gilian left to get ready for the ceremony. The king summoned them. Halt told me that you were to practice with the apprentice till it was time."

Will nodded and followed Tug to where the apprentice stood at the edge of the forest, rolling and sprinting and jumping while striking the targets with grace and perfection. Something about the way he did it was different, more graceful or light.

"He is good." Will whispered to Tug, who snorted and nodded as if acknowledging his comment.

The ranger rolled and shot an arrow at the last target before swiftly standing up and facing Will. Though they were face to face, Will could make out little of his features. His shoulders were narrow and slanted, indicating that he was quite young and hadn't grown in to the full shape of a men yet, as did his height; which was rather short for a fourteen year old. He could see his nose which poked out from the shade of his hood. It was a small button nose, like some little girls and boys had.

This confused Will, he remembered changing from a boy to a men as early as thirteen. At sixteen now, he was tall for a ranger and rather manly in shape.

"Hi, you must be the ranger this whole kingdom's worked up about; with reason of course. I'm Will." Will held his hand out to shake hands.

The ranger stood his ground as if considering his greeting; then stepped forward cautiously and shook his hand. Will was surprised at the smoothness of his palms, like his master had never made him clean the cottage as Halt made Will when he first came to be an apprentice. _Lucky_.

"Hi Will, I'm Alex." He mumbled softly.

Will nodded.

"Will! Will! Over here!" Will turned to the training field where Gilian stood, waving his hands over his head. Will waves back and motioned in front of him. "Shall we?"

Alex nodded wordlessly and led the way, walking with the grace and poise of a courier. _Strange_. Will thought eyeballing Gilian and raising his eyebrow.

Gilian stifled a laugh and nodded knowingly. "Alex, what a pleasure." He nodded and bowed his head to Gilian, who bowed back and motioned for them to follow him. Together, they glided to the pavilion where all the trainees were sitting, anxious to be introduced to the new ranger. Will was also pretty sure they didn't mind the break that they received from training. The trainees had taken a liking to Will's mysterious yet entertaining presence as he spent time with Horace while he practiced.

Sir Rodney walked to the front of the pavilion with big, loud steps. He stood and cleared his throat; almost instantly, the crowd calmed and chatter came to a stop. Silence hung in the air before Sir Rodney began to speak.

"Gentlemen, today we have the pleasure of meeting yet another heroic ranger. I'm sure you all remember the trouble some of us gave Will and I'm here to tell you now that I'm not going to put up with it." The trainees glanced at Will and smiled as the memories flooded back. "Gilian, you have the floor."

"Thank you Sir Rodney." Gilian stepped to the center and cleared his throat. "As you know, there's a new ranger who's accomplished many incredible feats. You all have the honor of representing our fief along with Apprentice Ranger Will. I thought it would be better to find out know rather than later."

The crowd looked at each other with confused faces. Gilian chuckled and motioned for Alex to come to his side.

"Apprentice Ranger Alex isn't a normal heroic ranger. Not like Will or Halt or I. Alex here has a very special secret; like Will, he was an orphan and taken to be a ranger because of his astonishing skills in that area. Alex was more talented then some of our rangers already fully trained. If not, Alex wouldn't be here."

The audience starred at Alex with a mixture of confusion and awe at his known talent.

"Alex, can you please take off your hood?" He nodded, and slowly pulled back his hood."

Will's breath stopped, the audience gasped.


End file.
